


Better the Little

by SEABlRD



Series: Deliverance [4]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1930s, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angel/Demon Relationship, M/M, Priest!Nikandros, angel!Damen, demon!Laurent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 21:43:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SEABlRD/pseuds/SEABlRD
Summary: Better the little the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked...---Laurent teaches his rather difficult angel boyfriend how to use human currency- more filler for @Tyranno's (and mine!) Deliverance 'verse :3c





	Better the Little

Nikandros takes in the bizzare scene in front of him, pausing in his whittling. For some imperceivable reason, the demon wanted to teach Damen how to use human currency. They’d been at it for about a half hour, increasing frustration on Laurent’s part, while Damen stays blissfully ignorant.

“Look, this one is a dime, it’s worth ten cents.” Laurent says, holding up two coins. It reflects the yellowed light of the cabin’s lamp. “And this one is a nickel, it’s worth five.”

Damen frowns and points at the nickel. “But this one is bigger, should it not be worth more?” He asks for the third time, Nikandros can’t help but count. Laurent looks like he’s coming close to throwing all his change out the window.

“The dime is worth more. That’s all there is to it,” Laurent says, finality in his tone. He puts the two coins down and picks up two more. “This is a penny and a quarter, the penny is worth one cent, and the quarter is worth twenty five.”

“The brown one is the same size as the dime,” Damen remarks, and Laurent’s fingertips begin to smoke. 

“Can you take this seriously? I can’t have you running around stealing things from humans, anymore. It’s not very angelic of you.”

Damen has the sense to look a little apologetic at that, and takes a closer look at the two coins. “That one is bigger, so it must be worth more,” he says, pointing at the quarter in Laurent’s hand. 

“Yes,” Laurent makes a so-so gesture. “But you can’t use that as your rule, like with the nickels and dimes. Once you recognize the shape, you should be able to tell them apart at first glance.”

When he holds up the dime and nickel again, Damen mixes them up. Again. 

Nikandros tosses Laurent his own wallet and the demon only catches it out of pure reflex, the coins in his hand scattering across the table. The glare he gets is worth it, though.

“Try bills, the numbers are easier to understand.” Nikandros suggests, and despite the displeasure in Laurent’s eyes he seems to agree with the council. 

Laurent takes one of each bill Nik has, and already the priest is mourning the loss of his money. The chances of getting those bills back is pretty slim, but he tells himself it’s for a good cause: mainly, teaching Damen not to steal from humans.

“Can you tell me what these ones are worth?” Laurent says, laying the bills out on the table in a neat row.

“I can read numbers, yes,” Damen replies. “One, five, ten, and twenty.”

Laurent nods. “Good, that’s in dollars. Now, I told you this one earlier, the difference between coins and bills,” he begins, holding up a dime and a ten dollar bill. “Which is worth more?”

Damen takes a suspiciously long time to answer, inspecting each piece of money closely before crossing his arms, a befuddled look on his face. “This one is worth ten, and this one is worth ten as well,” he answers. “They are the same.”

“No!” Laurent shouts, and the bill in his hand goes up in flames, startling Nikandros out of his amused disinterest. Even Damen is surprised by the outburst, leaning away from the smoldering paper as it burns. “You’re going to get yourself robbed  _ blind _ , at this rate.”

“Was that really necessary?” Nikandros snaps, stomping over and snatching his wallet and bills back, swiping the few coins Laurent had been using as well, for good measure. “I had to sell a lot of my stuff for that cash, the  _ least _ you could do is be  _ nice _ about it.”

He jams the wallet, ten dollars lighter, into his pocket and returns to his corner of the table. He picks up his knife and the small piece of wood he’d been whittling, resuming his previous pastime while Damen quietly scolds Laurent for losing control of his power. 

He’s working on a little bust, perhaps for a brooch or a pin. It’s quite rough for now, but Nikandros thinks it might look good as a lion’s head. He looks up at his two mismatched companions, watching them bicker.

Through the back of Laurent’s well-pressed, white dress shirt, he can see some black demon blood seeping through the fabric. He frowns, trying to remember where the demon might have gotten hurt on his watch. Damen says something to Laurent in hushed tones, his large palm coming to rest just over the blood-flecked spot and pulling him into a casual embrace.

Nikandros can feel his grip on the knife tightening and he forcibly pulls his attention back to his project. 

He makes decent progress into the lion’s head when he feels a hot presence slide into the seat beside him. He looks up through his eyelashes to where Laurent is leaning against the table, a single, polished quarter rolling over his knuckles. When he spots Nikandros watching, Laurent moves his hand with a flourish and the coin is gone.

“Ta-da,” he says, a fanged smile pulling at his lips. “It’s magic. Pretty impressive, yes?”

“I’m not particularly impressed by you making my money disappear, actually,” Nikandros says before he can stop himself, and the sudden spike in temperature around him is well deserved.

“I-” Laurent draws out, cringing slightly. He makes another flourish with his hand and the quarter is back in his palm. He flips it over his knuckles and begins rolling it again. “- Came here to apologize, for setting your money on fire. I know it was worth a lot, and I should have taken your current financial status into account before burning it.”

“Damen told you to say that, didn’t he?” the priest asks, and sure enough Laurent looks genuinely guilty for the briefest of seconds. 

“I’m told humans like it when people say sorry if they believe them to have done something wrong,” Laurent shrugs. 

Nikandros puts his knife and wood piece down before he can do something foolish with them. “I appreciate the apology,” he says, “but I’m still ten dollars short, no matter what way you slice it. That money could have brought us a long way.”

Laurent rubs his teeth with the tip of his tongue, looking away from Nikandros. They sit in quiet stalemate for a handful of minutes before the demon speaks again.

“I’ll make it up to you,” is all he says, and he gets up. He heads toward his and Damen’s shared room, his spade-ended tail moving in lazy sweeps behind him. Nikandros takes up his whittling again but stops short.

In the lion’s tiny, hollow eye sockets sits two spots of glowing red. He passes his thumb over them and nearly recoils at the sting he feels. He glances to where Laurent is, but the demon is already closing the door with a quiet noise. When Nikandros looks back at the lion, the spots are gone.

**Author's Note:**

> [edit] renamed!
> 
> This one was a lot of fun to write!!! i wanna make a few more fillers before we hit the grand finale so i'm gonna go over some ideas w/ tyranno :3c
> 
> thanks for reading!!! please check out 'Heavenly Flesh' for the intro premise and 'The Priest' for Nikandros' intro!!


End file.
